-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As Ashton Kutcher becomes the first to collect 1 million followers on Twitter and Oprah Winfrey sends out her first tweet , tech observers are debating : Does Friday mark a new peak for the microblogging service ? Or the beginning of its demise ?

Ashton Kutcher told Larry King Friday that the battle was about proving one person can have a voice .

Some bloggers and Twitter users have expressed concern that the once-cultish site is being overwhelmed by celebrities and media hype , while others are excited by Twitter 's ever-growing reach .

`` It 's a big milestone . This brings Twitter mainstream , '' said Andrew Cherwenka , a Huffington Post contributor and Web developer at Trapeze.com , referring to Kutcher and Winfrey 's Twitter breakthroughs .

`` A lot of people are saying this is going to be the death of Twitter , and I do n't understand that at all , '' Cherwenka added . `` It 's just another stage in Twitter 's acceleration . ''

`` The challenge for Twitter -- besides , of course , getting a business model in place to handle the infrastructure required to sustain this kind of growth -- is going to be maintaining the fact that it 's the community at large , not the celebrity users , that 's at the core of this service , '' said Caroline McCarthy , who writes a CNET News blog about social media .

`` The power of Twitter is about the millions of people using it and how easily it is to filter and aggregate their thoughts and conversations , '' McCarthy told CNN . `` It ca n't be all about Ashton and Oprah . ''

In the much-publicized duel , Kutcher 's Twitter account crossed the 1 million mark on Twitter about 2:13 a.m. ET Friday , narrowly beating CNN 's breaking-news feed , which had 998,239 followers at the time . CNN passed the mark at 2:42 a.m. ET .

On Friday , Kutcher went on `` Larry King Live '' to talk about the battle and why he felt the duel was so important .

`` We now live in an age in media that a single voice can have as much power and relevance on the Web , that is , as an entire media network , '' he said . `` And I think that to me was shocking . '' Watch Kutcher discuss reaching one million milestone ''

Early Friday Winfrey sent her first tweet from the Chicago , Illinois , set of her TV show . The all-caps message was sent at 10:10 a.m. ET and said , `` HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME . FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY . ''

Winfrey drew more than 73,000 Twitter followers before she sent out her first tweet . By Friday afternoon her Twitter following had climbed above 100,000 .

`` Twitter has experienced watershed events over the last two years since we founded the company , and momentum continues to build , '' Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said Friday in an e-mail to CNN . `` Certainly having Oprah and Ashton embrace Twitter so enthusiastically will be another big moment for us . ''

But Kutcher also acknowledged on `` Larry King Live '' Friday that while he was able to get so many followers because he is well-known , he was trying to show that anyone can have a voice and let their story be told .

`` I think it 's really important that Twitter is not about celebrities . It 's not a platform for celebrities , '' he said . `` In all these interviews and things , it 's been celebrity -- you know , people know have been on TV . It 's really about everyday people having a voice . And I do n't want it to be dwarfed by celebrity . ''

Sean ` Diddy ' Combs , who joined Twitter and threw his support behind Kutcher , told Larry King that he views Twitter as an important medium for him to share who he `` really '' is , and give fans a direct line of communication to him .

`` It 's a chance for people to know the real me , '' he said . `` Due to my own fault there 's such a persona of the Hamptons and the bling-bling and the `` Forbes '' list and who I 'm dating . There 's more substance to me than that . Over time I 've just wanted to make sure that that has gotten out . ''

Kutcher told Larry King that initially , Twitter was a tool to feed his ego until he realized that he could use the service to make a difference .

`` At the end of the day , we all have ego , we all have some level of ego , '' he said . `` But if we can use our ego to actually create good charitable things in the world in some way , and use our ego -- originally , I defined Twitter as an ego stream when I first saw it . But then what I realized is if we can transform that into something that 's positive that can actually effectively change the world , that can be a really valuable tool . ''

Kutcher had challenged CNN to the Twitter race , saying he would donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day in late April if he beat CNN , and 1,000 if he lost . CNN agreed to do the same .

The battle between @aplusk , Kutcher 's Twitter handle , and CNN 's feed gained much attention on Twitter , with fans pulling for both sides .

Web junkies watched Kutcher on a live video stream as he celebrated with champagne , surrounded by his wife , Demi Moore , and friends .

`` We are over a million . CNN is still trying to get there . And that is just how it goes , '' Kutcher told the camera as his friends screamed . `` There are a million people that need to be thanked for this . '' See Kutcher celebrate his milestone ''

No single Twitter account had previously reached 1 million followers , according to two Web sites that track popularity on Twitter , a site on which users post 140-character messages that are distributed to groups of followers .

`` Kudos to Ashton and all those in the @aplusk camp . Now more than ever , the consumer is in the driver 's seat and we could n't be more gratified than to be part of this historic social media milestone , '' said CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin .

CNN maintains more than 40 official Twitter accounts , with a total of more than 1.5 million followers . Kutcher was racing the network 's breaking-news feed , @cnnbrk . That account provides only brief updates about breaking news , therefore CNN does n't send a lot of alerts -- just those for major events the network believes its audience will want to know .

`` We 'd like to thank every one of our followers for helping CNN reach the 1 million mark , and we are delighted to raise our donation to 10,000 bed nets for World Malaria Day in recognition of them , '' Martin said .

Not to be outdone , Winfrey said in a tweet Friday morning that she would donate 20,000 mosquito bed nets to charity . `` American Idol '' host Ryan Seacrest , another popular Twitter user , also agreed Friday to make a donation of mosquito bed nets , which help prevent the biting insects from spreading malaria in tropical countries .

`` Ashton 's ` Twitter race ' is an amazing example of how we can leverage new technology to battle an ancient disease , '' said Scott Case , CEO of Malaria No More , the charity expected to benefit most from the mosquito bed net donations . `` Not only is Ashton helping Malaria No More raise awareness ... he 's also galvanizing his Twitter army to help end malaria deaths . ''

The online feud between CNN and Kutcher also drew attention to the popularity of Twitter , which has seen breakneck growth over the past year . Twitter saw 131 percent growth in March alone , with 9.3 million unique U.S. visitors that month , according to comScore . The group attributes the increase to media attention on the site .

Cherwenka , the Huffington Post blogger , believes Kutcher may be one of the first people to leverage the power of online social networking for widespread social good .

`` It 's a turning point in media . He 's one person who uses a free media platform to reach a large audience . And that really has n't been done before , '' Cherwenka said . `` He did n't spend a penny on this . And that 's kind of the point of any kind of social activity on the Web . ''

But will all this celebrity-driven hype turn off longtime Twitter users ? Time will tell , observers say .

`` I know some Twitter early adopters and loyalists are feeling a bit ambivalent about this influx of mainstream attention , and are likening it to when their favorite indie band gets big overnight , '' said CNET 's McCarthy . `` They 're excited to see this service really take off , but at the same time are concerned that it 's turning into a sort of novelty fad . ''

CNN.com 's Brandon Griggs and John D. Sutter contributed to this report .

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NEW : Ashton Kutcher : `` It 's really about everyday people having a voice ''

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NEW : Kutcher : I realized I could use Twitter to `` effectively change the world ''

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Oprah Winfrey , Ashton Kutcher taking Twitter 's popularity to new heights

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Kutcher beat CNN early Friday in a race for 1 million followers on the site